Plans for church meeting hall at disused riding stables look set for approval

mobberley riding school

Controversial plans to demolish a former riding school located in the Green Belt and replace it with a church meeting hall are being recommended for approval.

Mobberley Development Ltd has applied to demolish the majority of the existing buildings at the site of the former Mobberley Riding School, which closed in April 2016 and is located off Newton Hall Lane. These will be replaced with a modern Church Meeting Hall for the Brethren Christian Church which will be able to accommodate 508 people along with a car park containing 140 spaces.

There have been a large number of objections to the proposals, including from Wilmslow Town Council, who raised concerns about the impact of the additional traffic heading towards and through Morley Green, but on balance the Planning Officer considers the use to be an acceptable development for this location, without any adverse impacts.

The planning application is being recommended for approval at a meeting of the Northern Planning Committee next week. The Planning Officer is advising that the proposals are an acceptable form of development within the Green Belt, will not increase the amount of development on the site and it is considered that the proposals will not have a detrimental impact on neighbouring properties, or on the road network despite the large numbers of visitors expected, due to the access and parking arrangements proposed.

Cheshire East Council received 182 letters of objection in respect of the application. Concerns raised included: the infrastructure and highway network cannot cope with the numbers of people proposed to attend; amount of car parking is inadequate; inappropriate development within the Green Belt; no community benefit; design is not appropriate and visual impact from floodlighting.

Objections were also received from the parish councils of Ollerton with Marthall, Great Warford and Mobberley, who stated "This application has caused a lot of controversy within the Village for various reasons. We have listened to the Parishioners and their concerns and have also met up with the Brethren Community. After careful consideration we cannot see how the village will not be detrimentally affected by the sheer volume of additional traffic that this development will bring. The development is intended to be a "Head Office", phasing out the Hale Barns meeting hall and consequently will be a very prominent and busy meeting place.

"Newton Hall Lane is not a major road and is extremely narrow in places and so naturally we are concerned that potentially it could lead to accidents. We also consider that due to the amount of time that the Brethren worship this could become an amenity issue for the surrounding neighbours."

The Northern Planning Committee will meet on Wednesday, 8th February, in Macclesfield Town Hall to determine this planning application which can be viewed on the Cheshire East Council website by searching for planning reference 16/3931M.

Tags:
Brethren Christian Church, Mobberley Riding School, Planning Applications
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Simon Worthington
Wednesday 1st February 2017 at 4:43 pm
Lets just see how 500 visitors manage to park!!! What a shambles again. Who is in charge when 182 letters arrive objecting and nearly everyone else objects. Out with them!!!!
Sheila Hallas
Wednesday 1st February 2017 at 5:14 pm
Please tell me how 508 possible churchgoers can arrive here when there are 104 parking spaces?
Quite unworkable.
Quote " no adverse impacts..." ??
Pardon?
Jon Armstrong
Wednesday 1st February 2017 at 6:43 pm
The amount a building can accommodate is clearly not the same thing as the amount of people who are likely to be there at any one time. Are 508 people going to be there every day? Every Sunday? I very much doubt it.

You think 140 car parking places is a problem!!? Tell me any religious building within 5 miles of Wilmslow that has space for 140 cars. If there are any at all there can't be many. Given church going is often a family practice, that with very few exceptions cars can usually comfortably sit 4 or 5 people and that I can't imagine the church expect to have anywhere near 508 people there for every service,140 spaces sounds ample.
James MacDonald
Wednesday 1st February 2017 at 11:08 pm
Not needed. The simple solution is to have their meetings in one of the churches as they are empty most of the time. If the churches are a bit too cold then they can try one of the local coffee shops ;)
Terry Roeves
Thursday 2nd February 2017 at 9:04 am
It's to be offices.
Jon Armstrong
Thursday 2nd February 2017 at 2:09 pm
Your evidence for this, Terry?
Rick Andrews
Saturday 4th February 2017 at 2:42 pm
I suggest that the roadside parking is banned for 400 yards either side of the site on Newton Hall lane with double yellow lines to prevent the road becoming impassable. Should also be a condition that the new "church" cannot have a change of use to commercial facilities for a minimum of 25 years. Would be interesting to know what will be done with the current church facilities - will it be retained for local use or redeveloped?

With all these spurious decisions it seems that the CEC dictionary new definition of green belt is " land available for random development, especially in Wilmslow and Knutsford". Maybe we should enter CEC for the Winter olympics - going downhill.
Peter Evans
Wednesday 8th February 2017 at 12:39 pm
Breaking news - this has been rejected this mornin, according to BBC news site (sorry, can't seem to be able to add the link just now). Shame that this force does Mobb Riding School to close, and wonder what will happen to the site now...?
Jon Armstrong
Wednesday 8th February 2017 at 1:21 pm
The riding school already closed - there was no forcing about it. See above: "...at the site of the former Mobberley Riding School, which closed in April 2016."
Peter Evans
Wednesday 8th February 2017 at 6:28 pm
Jon, that's not the case. MRS was sold to the people who wanted to create the pseudo church. If it hadn't been for that, MRS would probably still be there. The press stff about this is inaccurate
Jon Armstrong
Wednesday 8th February 2017 at 9:33 pm
Why "pseudo"?